


The Year That Never Was

by Marblez



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, M/M, OC's - Freeform, Temporary Character Death, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 10:19:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2188086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marblez/pseuds/Marblez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened to the rest of the team whilst Jack was trapped on the Valiant? </p><p>(originally posted on fanfiction.net)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.**

**Warning(s): SLASH! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.**

** The Year That Never Was.  **

** Chapter One. **

"Well that was a waste of fucking time. Whose idea was it anyway to follow that ridiculous lead? Why would Jack be in the Himalayas?" Owen asked angrily as he dropping his back pack carelessly by his desk. Tosh, putting her bag down far more gently, turned on her computer as she answered,

"Yours Owen."

"What?" Owen turned to her, glaring his best.

"It was your idea to follow the report," Tosh continued calmly, typing in her password. Gwen couldn't help but giggle at the look that crossed over Owens face, a giggle shared by Tosh. Owen wasn't impressed.

"Ianto, I want coffee," the doctor amongst them ordered calmly. "Black, two sugars. Now." Ianto glanced at Owen, not one emotion on his face as ever and merely picked up both Owens and Tosh's bags before walking up the metal stairs towards the kitchenette, his own bag on his back. It was now actually that Gwen noticed that his bag was far bigger than rest, obviously containing the large tent they'd used and the poles. She was sure Owen had said he'd taken the poles.

"You can't boss him around like that Owen," Gwen said sharply, "He's not your slave." Owen said nothing, simply turning on his own computer. "I'll go help him un-pack our things, he can't do it all himself no matter what you think Ow-"

"What?" Tosh all but screamed from her computer, her eyes wide as she double clicked on something frantically.

"Tosh?" Gwen asked worriedly.

 _"Mr Saxon, recently elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, is set to make first contact with a species known as the Toclofane_ _as seen by the people of the world during the Prime Ministers first public address. The meeting is set to take place a 8:00am this morning on board the Air Craft Carrier Valiant and will be televised to the whole world."_ Tosh's voice was shaking as she read the report on her screen. The others hurried to her, including Ianto who had heard and all but flew down the stairs in his haste, "Who are the-the Toclofane?"

"We go on a little trip for a couple of days and we miss all this?" Owen asked angrily, slamming his hand down onto the desk, "How did we not know about this?"

"What time is it?" Gwen asked, seemingly the only one thinking rationally at that moments in time. Ianto looked at his watch and answered quietly,

"It's 7:58."

"The broadcast," Gwen said, leaning over Tosh's back to take the mouse in her own hand, "We need to watch this broadcast." Somehow she managed to bring up the television broadcast on the screen, she'd never been all that good with computers but it seemed when she really needed to she could work just as well as Tosh.

/ "My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world. I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity. A role I will undertake, with the utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclofane cousins can offer us much but what is important is not that we gain material benefits but that we learn to see ourselves anew. For as long as man has looked to the stars he has wondered what mysteries they hold, now we know we are not alone…\\\

"What are these Toclofane this is all about?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know, there was no picture of them on the site," Tosh said softly, "It said that it was Saxon making first contact, why has it suddenly changed to President Winters? Do you think something happened to Saxon?"

"Nah, probably the American's got pissed that we were getting all the glory and they barged themselves in," Owen said boldly, sneering, "Bloody American's. God I need a coffee." Ianto made to go and make it but Gwen pulled away from the group quicker, pushing him back to his place.

"I'll do it Ianto."

"Oh, ok." As Gwen walked away the other three turned there attention back onto the screen where the President was still speaking.

**/** _"And I ask you now, I ask of the human race to join with me and welcome the Toclofane. \\\_

"Whoa," Someone, no one was really sure if it was one or all of them actually, said as the three metal spheres appeared around the President, a loud hum coming from each of them and they floated in the air.

/ "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President elect of the United States of America and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet earth and it's associated moon."

" ** _You're not the Master."_**

" ** _We like the Mister Master."_**

" ** _We don't like you."_**

"I can be master if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you if that is God's will." \\\

"Idiot, God's will…" Owen snorted but was hushed again as the spheres spoke once again, their metallic and childlike voices echoing around the hub as Tosh turned the sound on her computer up,

/ _" **Man is stupid. Master is our friend."**_

" ** _Where's my Master, pretty please?"_**

" _Oh alright then, it's me. Tada!"_ \\\

The three stared at the screen in shock as Saxon ran up and faced the camera, an insane grin on his face. None of them could speak however, could only listen and watch in shock,

/ _"Sorry, sorry, I have this affect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know! It's crazy!"_

"Saxon what are you talking about?"

" _I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with you. Kill him." \\\_

"Shit!" Owen shouted as they watched the President zapped into dust, his death cry echoing around the metallic hub along with the Master's manic laughter. On the screen the guards had drawn weapons and were keeping control of the various people in the room as the Toclofane floated around the Master as he gazed down.

"What's going on?" Gwen rushed down the stairs from where she'd been making the coffee, a job Ianto usually did but she'd tried to take some responsibility of lately so he wasn't treated quite to much like a butler.

"The aliens just killed the President of America," Owen answered.

"What?"

/ _"Now then, peoples of the Earth please attend carefully. Stop him!" \\\_

"Is that the Doctor?" Gwen asked, "The one Jack always talks about?"

"That's not the photo on the archives," Owen said with a frown.

"Yes it is," Ianto said quietly, "That's the Doctor from Canary Warf, the one that saved the world."

/ _"We meet at last Doctor. Ha Ho! I love saying that!"_

_"Stop this, stop it now!"_

"You think the perception filters going to work on me? And look, it's the girly and the freak. Although I'm not sure which one's which." \\\

Even though the four knew he couldn't die they still jumped when Jack tried to attack the Master and was shot in the chest by the insane Time Lord. Gwen wished she was there instead of the other woman, holding Jack's body as his body worked on bringing him back to life.

/ "Laser screwdriver, who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!" \\\

"He's mad," Tosh breathed.

"Poor Jack," Gwen said softly, "If he doesn't get out of there…"

/ "Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop! If you could see yourself…" \\\

"I don't think talking to him is going to work mate," Owen said sadly as the Master turned to the camera, his insane grin still on his face.

/ "Oh do excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute. \\\

"He sounds so calm…" Gwen breathed fearfully.

/ Let him go."

"It's that sound, the sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh how to shut him up. I know, memory lane! Professor Lazarus, remember him? And his genetic manipulation device. What did you think little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver. But…oooh…if only I had the Doctor's genetic code. Oh, wait a minute. clicks his fingers I do! I've got his hand! And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?" \\\

"Oh my God…" Tosh gasped, her hand covering her mouth as they watched the Doctor writhe and scream in pain, watched the Master laugh and enjoy himself until finally he stopped his torture and looked down at what he'd caused.

"Jacks awake," Ianto pointed out as the woman rushed to the now very elderly looking Doctor, holding him in her arms gently.

/ "Doctor, I've got you."

"Aw, she's a would be Doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones we've flown 'em in, all the way from prison! \\\

"Does he think this is a game?" Gwen asked angrily as three prisoners were brought into the room, the camera following them closely.

/ "Mum…"

"I'm sorry…" \\\

"That poor mother," Ianto said in compassion. And still, even in his weakened and elderly state the Doctor spoke again,

/ "The Toclofane, what are they? Who are they?"

"Doctor, if I told you the truth your hearts would break."

**"Is it time? Is it ready?"**

**"Is the machine singing?"**

"Two minutes past." \\\

"What machine? What is he planning?" Owen asked angrily.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Tosh pointed out.

/ "So, Earthlings. Basically, um…end of the world. Hear come the drums!" \\\

"Fuck…" Owen breathed as the camera man shot what was happening outside the air ship, the millions of Toclofane flying down out of the crack in the sky.

"He's playing music?" Gwen asked, listening to the upbeat music in fear, "At his 'end of the world' he's playing music?" Suddenly it was switched off.

/ "Down you go kids!" \\\

"What do you think they're talking about?" Tosh asked fearfully as the Master and his pretty wife talked in the corner of the screen.

"Whatever it is I doubt it's good for us," Owen said calmly.

/ "Remove one tenth of the population!" \\\

"Shit!" Gwen screamed as the world seemed to rock around them, the spheres that had descended from the sky had begun attacking the earth. Owen pulled her to him, holding her close as the screen of the laptop turned to snow as the connection was broken. The ground rocked again causing Tosh to scream loudly. An alarm blared suddenly and Ianto went to Owens computer station, logging on as quickly as he could he checked the hubs security status.

"They're targeting the Hub," he said quietly.

"What? How? How do they know about the Hub?" Gwen asked, her grip on Owens arms tightening in fear. "It's a secret…"

"Saxon. He'll have been briefed about Torchwood," Ianto answered, going to Tosh and pulling her up firmly as the woman all but dissolved into frightened tears reminding him of their time in the countryside. "We need to get out of here." A loud explosion came from above them and the lights flickered briefly.

"How?" Gwen and Tosh asked together.

"The garage, it has a separate alarm. They' haven't attacked it yet," Ianto said, rushing back up to the bags he emptied them onto the floor carelessly and then started filling them with food from the kitchen.

"I'll get some medical supplies," Owen said, grabbing Gwen's bag which had never made it's way upstairs he hurried into his own space, followed quickly by the frightened Gwen. Tosh stood lost.

"Tosh! Get you gear packed up, we'll need it," Ianto ordered. His sudden leadership skills were not questioned by anyone. The women obeyed, whimpering every time there was an explosion, when the lights would flicker and the walls would shake. The fountain, which had always been dripping water since the Hub had been built around it, had stopped.

"Where are we going to go?" Gwen asked as she and Owen returned, Owen wearing the now very full bag. Both had also put their coasts back on. Tosh seeing so copied them and them put her lap top bag on so it crossed over her chest. Ianto ran down the steps, handing one of the bags he'd filled with all the food and others things in the kitchen to her which soon went on.

"The only place Saxon won't expect us to," the young Welshman said rushing into Jack's office, "The cannibals village."

"What?" the other three screamed. Ianto silently asked himself how they could be more scared of an empty village than the spheres they had just seen murder a man in cold blood and were now after them.

"It's been empty since they were arrested, the council had plans to destroy it. Saxon wont expect us to go somewhere something that terrible happened to us. There's shelter already waiting for us so no need to bring the tent and it's out of the way," Ianto explained reasonably, packing a few of Jack's things into the bag including a photo of the team, his coffee mug and Jack's favourite book. Just little things to remind Ianto of their lost leader. Lost, until then Ianto had always thought of his Boss and lover as missing but now, with the world ending around them, Jack seemed truly lost. "We can take the SUV most of the way and then dump it."

"I-" Gwen began.

"Let's do it, it's our only plan," Owen said quickly as a crash sound above and a louder alarm blared. "Wha-"

"They're in!" Ianto shouted, "We need to go!" He pulled Tosh by the arm and led the way up to the entrance to the Garage, followed by Owen who pulled the still stunned Gwen along with him. The ex-PC seemed to be falling to pieces as she faced the end of the world without Jack. For some reason the American's presence last time they had been so close to destruction had given her confidence.

"Gwen wake up!" Owen ordered as they reached the dark garage. Ianto didn't flick the lights on, just unlocked the SUV and pushed Tosh inside. She didn't obey him and he had to forcefully put her inside before he could climb inside himself, helping Tosh to pile their bags between the women on the backseat as Ianto started the powerful engine.

"Put your seat belts on, this could get…interesting," Ianto ordered, pressing the button on the SUV's panel that opened the garage doors.

"Define interesting," said Owen, "Sphere!" Ianto put his foot down at the thing Owen had pointed out fired at them and they narrowly missed the shot, hitting the sphere itself as they burst out onto the road.

"There's another following us!" Tosh screamed. Owen pulled his gun out of it's holster, opened his window and leant out, looking for his target. Gwen began to scream hysterically as Owen opened fire as did the sphere.

"I'm turning right!" Ianto shouted his warning before pulling the sharp manoeuvre. Tosh tried to calm Gwen in the back seat but the other woman continued to scream in fear, her own evident fear scaring the others almost as much as the spheres…almost. The sphere fired again and abruptly Gwen's screams stopped, the sound of the wind rushing past them grew louder and the SUV swerved.

"Gwen?" Owen asked worriedly, his head still out the window. Ianto veered to avoid people running in the road and looked in the mirror, worried by both the women's silence. Tosh was unconscious, a cut on her forehead, the wind blowing her hair around her relaxed face and Gwen…

"Oh God…" Ianto breathed.

"Gwen!" Owen screamed from outside still trying to hit the sphere, "Shit there's another one! What's happened to Gwen?" Ianto bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed and then lied,

"She's fainted, keep shooting those bloody things Owen!" Ianto was amazed his voice didn't shake as he took another screeching turn and then looked in the mirror again. Gwen had not fainted as he had just said. The woman sat in the seat behind him was dead, her eyes open in shock and fear, her face and clothes bloody where parts of the door had sliced into her deeply. It was the door that had taken the hit from the sphere mainly but the blast had done so much more than damage the SUV. It had taken her life.

"I hit one!" Owen reported loudly as Ianto turn again and again.

"Good! We're almost out of the city!" Ianto felt awful for lying to Owen but they needed the other man to defend them, he couldn't do that if he was distraught over Gwen. Ianto knew he'd probably get punched for lying to him later.

"I got it! We're clear!" Owen screamed a couple of minutes later, a couple of minutes of Ianto's frantic driving, of ignoring the screaming people in the streets. He sat back into his seat, re-loading his gun just in case he then turned around…and gave a shout, "Gwen!" A single tear fell from Ianto's eye but he kept driving even as Owen tried to throw himself into the backseat to go to the woman he had sort of loved. "GWEN!"

"You lied to me," Owens voice was dangerously low as he and Ianto helped the very dazed and barely conscious Tosh out of the SUV, "You lied to me."

"I had to," Ianto answered quietly, "You needed to be focused on your job. If you hadn't gotten those things we wouldn't have gotten this far. We'd all be dead!" He lowered Tosh to the ground gently leaving Owen standing alone for a few moments before he rose.

"I could have helped her."

"She died instantly Owen, can't you see that?" Ianto asked, going to the open door he pulled the bags out and threw them to the ground by Tosh. In the distance Cardiff burned and he lost himself for a moment staring at it.

"I could have helped her!" Owen all but screamed, pulling Ianto round and punching him in the jaw, "I could have helped her!" He kicked Ianto in the ribs making the Welshman groan but Ianto did nothing else. "I-I could have-I could have…" Owen began to sob pathetically, like he had done in private when Diane had left and Ianto got to his feet.

"Sit down with Tosh. I'll sort the SUV out," Ianto ordered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Tosh asked.

"I'll do what I do best, cover up our escape and make it look like we're dead," Ianto answered with a shrug, "Then we can start walking, we'll get there by nightfall if we keep a good pace."

"How can you be so calm, so composed after all that's happened?" Owen demanded, "Cardiff is burning! The human race is dying! Gwen is dead! How can you be so…uncaring?"

"I care Owen, I just know that one of us must focus on the task at hand and get us to safety so that we can do something about fixing all this," Ianto was now leaning into the SUV, searching for something.

"Fix it?" Owen asked, his voice rising again, "How can we…?"

"We aren't the only survivors Owen, you heard Saxon on the broadcast, he's only killed a tenth so far. The rest will need help, help that we'll be able to give as long as **we** stay in a fit state to give it," Ianto said, "Found it."

"He has a point," Tosh said quietly.

"You've found what?" Owen asked at length, the fact that he didn't challenge what Ianto had said showing his agreement better than words.

"The SUV's self destruct, it we blow it up it will look like we died with it…especially if they find the remains of one of us," Ianto said quietly.

"No! You can't blow Gwen up!" Owen cried out shocked. Ianto pushed a button grimly and then rushed away, tackling Owen to the ground. Only then did Owen realise that Ianto had made him take Tosh a fare distance from the SUV to begin with, far enough away to be out of the blast range of the vehicle when it exploded. Debris landed around them, something sharp hitting Ianto's shoulder but other than that the three were unharmed. The SUV and Gwen were no more. "I hate you. I fucking hate you!"

"Let's get moving," Ianto said emotionlessly, helping Tosh to her feet once more. The young woman smiled sadly at him and carefully put on her bag, grateful that he had somehow become the leader and not her or Owen, she didn't have a clue what to do really and Owen…well his emotions were too high to really think of anything. "Owen, pick up your bag and move. Now." Slowly Owen did so, leading the way angrily, trying to hide his tears. Tosh followed in silence and Ianto brought up the rear, carrying the last and as it turned out heaviest bag.

"I hate you…"

"I know Owen, I know…"


	2. Chapter 2

** Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.  **

** Warning(s): SLASH! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.  **

** The Year That Never Was.  **

** Chapter Two.  **

Owen had been silent all three hours that they had been walking, trudging on behind Ianto and Tosh. He'd cried for a while, thinking of Gwen, thinking of Diane, his parents, July his school sweetheart and his first love. All the people he had ever loved, gone, dead. And he was still alive, trudging along towards a place that held some of his worst memories. Once his tears were spent and only the rain water dripped down his face he began to become more like his normal self, his emotions calming so that he could keep them in check.

"How much further? I'm starting to remember why I hate the countryside," he said loudly causing Tosh to snigger softly. She too had cried for a while, hugging herself as she walked but after a while she'd taken the map from Ianto and given herself something to focus on. When Ianto had had the time to get the right map neither of the other two knew but they were thankful he had thought to bring it.

"Not far," she said at last, "This is starting to look a bit familiar and if I'm right it's only two more hills, that's if I'm right. Not too good with maps…" she looked nervously down at the soaking map in her hands.

"Don't knock yourself down Tosh, you can read a map," Ianto said gently, his breath coming in short gasps. His shoulders were killing him, his back was killing him and he was ice cold. But they were all cold thanks to the seemingly never ending rain. Two long hills later and they got their first glimpse of the place that had haunted all of them in their nightmares, the cannibals village. And there was no sign of life and no sign of any spheres.

"We're back," Owen said softly, "We're fucking back."

"We'll make camp in the Pub," Ianto said calmly, "We can go around the village, find any tins of food still in date, blankets, clothes, stuff like that."

"I won't wear their clothes," Tosh said quickly.

"Would you rather stay soaking wet Tosh? Because one of the things I didn't have time to pack was a change of clothes for all of us," Ianto said calmly, putting his arm round her, "It'll be alright, Tosh."

The door to the pub still had the police tape over it but was unlocked and swung open with a small creak. Trying the light switch didn't work, the electricity was off it seemed but luckily it was still reasonably light outside and they could see inside the dusty room. It had been cleaned up by the police, the broken furniture they'd used to barricade the door was gone and the door to the basement was open. Owen insisted on checking down there as soon as he was in the pub and closed the door behind him, locking it securely. He wasn't too manly to say the place still scared the crap out of him.

"Right, we need to gather supplies from the other buildings that we can use and get this place liveable. Tosh, sorry to be stereotypical here but can you sort out what and how we're going to eat?" Ianto asked and was thankful when his female friend nodded and slowly went into the pubs kitchen to start her job. Thankfully, as protocol demands, the police had cleared out everything to do with the cannibals and left the place like a normal kitchen. "Owen, we're going to need heat, blankets, maybe a fire and we'll need to be able to see at night so candles would be good and matches of course. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Owen answered quickly, "But what are you going to do?"

"Scout the perimeter, gather some firewood from the woods and make this place more like a home. You know, make some beds," Ianto said calmly, "Unless you'd rather do that."

"No, I'm good," Owen said quickly, "You can make us a home. Can I have the comfiest bed?" a little bit of his old personality peaked through in his attempt at a joke and Ianto couldn't help but smile.

The three set about their jobs, going from house to house to collect things, each with a gun on their body for protection. Tosh had quickly discovered that the gas had been shut off and so, with slight difficulty set up a wood burning stove (sort of) in the pubs kitchen. Taking the cans and packets of food, the stuff that the police had left behind, from the other houses she stocked the pubs kitchen, filling the shelves as much as she could. Owen had found a boarded up chimney in the main room of the pub and had taken a sledge hammer (found in the basement) to it to unblock it.

"It might be blocked further up," Ianto pointed out as he put a pillow case on one of the pillows he'd collected. Tosh had insisted that he change all the bedding, Ianto had been planning to do that anyway. Just the thought of sleeping on the same bedding as those cannibalistic monsters had sent a chill down his spine.

"Any suggestions?" Owen asked, standing with his hands on his hips before he caught himself in the rather feminine pose and dropped his hands to his sides. Ianto grabbed the old broom he'd used to sweep the room and placed it in Owens hands. "What am I meant to do with this?" Ianto sighed and took the broom back before crouching by the rough whole in the wall and rammed the broom up as far as he could, a shower of soot falling down as he did so. "Oh."

"You finish that off Owen, I have my own jobs to do," Ianto gave the now black broom to Owen and set about arranging the mattresses that he had scavenged on the floor so that they would all be within warming distance of the fire. "Don't forget to tidy it all up once the fireplace its ready."

"Um, guys?" Tosh spoke quietly from the doorway to the kitchen, "I think we might have a bit of a problem that we may have overlooked."

"What?" Owen asked, rubbing some of the soot from his face but only managing to smudge more into his skin. In another time and place it would have been a rather cute and endearing sight.

"How are we going to light fires? Did we find any matches?" The female of the group asked. Ianto cursed himself mentally for forgetting to look for matches.

"It's alright, I've got my lighter," Owen answered, shoving the absolutely filthy broom up the chimney once again, "Once we've lit this fire we'll keep it going and light any other fires we need with it."

"You have a lighter?" Tosh asked with a small frown.

"It was Diane's, she left it at mine when she left," Owen answered quietly, pulling out an old fashioned Zippo lighter from his pocket, "I keep it with me." Tosh's expression turned from confusion to sadness at his admission but she said nothing as he turned back to his task, putting even more effort into it than before as he tried to banish the unhappy thoughts of the past.

"Have you got any firewood yet Owen?" Ianto asked calmly, standing up from where he'd just finished making the last bed up.

"Not yet. Been busy."

"Then I'll go as I'm done making our beds and we're going to need that fire soon. It's starting to get dark and cold out," Ianto said, tidying up the four full bin liners that he'd brought back from the houses with him, putting them up on one of the tables in the pub.

"What's in the bags Yan?" Tosh asked, seeing them for the first time having been in the kitchen when he came back from his little trip to the other houses.

"Spare clothes, more bedding, clean towels, loo rolls, soap. The essentials really," Ianto shrugged, "And don't worry Tosh I took clothes from the airing cupboards and radiators, the freshly washed stuff. They hadn't yet been worn by the cannibals," Ianto's voice was soft and reassuring, causing Tosh to smile, she'd barely contained a shudder, "So…firewood."

"Yeah, I'll have this finished by the time you come back," Owen said with his head in the fireplace, his arse wiggling as he scrubbed at…something on the floor of the chimney with the brush, trying to remove it.

"Nice ass," Ianto commented calmly before her was gone. Tosh fled back to the kitchen to get the things she needed to cook ready for when the fires were lit, giggling all the way. Owen, with his head still in the fireplace, blushed a deep red.

"This is good Tosh," Ianto commented as they all sat at one of the pubs tables, eating their meal in a rather civilised fashion. The two fires were burning well and heating the place up nicely and as the light had faded lit the place up pretty well as did the candles that Ianto had found. They wouldn't last forever however but their wood supply was quite good being that there was an entire forest on their doorstep.

"This is far too…civilised for the end of the world," Owen said with a shake of his head, "All across the world people are dead and dying and we're…"

"Doing what we can Owen, surviving. Tomorrow we'll look into what we can do to help others," Ianto spoke calmly, "We'll see who we can help, we'll get Tosh's lap top running, we'll see about getting the electricity in this place running, we'll find out what's happening. But tonight we'll recover and we'll grieve. Tonight we'll just be us, not Torchwood. Torchwoods gone…until tomorrow."

"…" Owen couldn't seem to form words after Ianto's speech.

"When did you turn into Jack?" Tosh asked seriously.

"When I needed to," Ianto answered sadly, "We need a 'Jack' and as he's not here to do it…"

"Do you think he's alright?" Tosh asked worriedly.

"He's a prisoner of that madman, of course he's not alright," Owen said bluntly. "But he's Jack so he'll be surviving. He always does and I'm not just talking about the whole immortality thing. Jack's a born survivor."

"Yeah, yeah he is," Tosh breathed, sounding a little reassured. "So who's washing up? I cooked so not me." She'd discovered while cooking that the water was still on but only cold, the boiler had been turned off along with the electricity.

"I cleared out the chimney," Owen said quickly, "Ianto can wash up." Ianto shrugged and popped the last mouthful of food in his mouth before carefully laying his cutlery down on the clear plate. "I'm sure he won't mind."

"Of course not, I am after all a tea boy," a small grin flashed across Ianto's face as he rose and stacked the plates and cutlery with practised ease. Then he headed for the kitchen and ultimately the sink, filling it with ice cold water. He couldn't help but gasp when his hands were submerged in the water and set about the washing very quickly, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible.

"What time is it?" he heard Tosh ask in the other room.

"Half-eight," Owen answered, "I'll put some more wood on that fire or it'll die and we'll have to light it again. Someone will have to do it in the night as well or it won't survive."

"I'll do it," Ianto called out from the sink.

"We can take turns on different nights," Tosh said, hers the voice of reason, "You can't do it every night Ianto, that would be unfair. Just like I won't do the cooking every day."

"What is it with women and bloody rotors?" Owen grumbled unhappily.

"It's a sensible idea," Ianto placed the washed things in the drying rack beside the sing, "But we'll sort it out tomorrow."

"We'll sort everything out tomorrow by the sounds of it," Owen continued to grumble. Ianto ignored him and finished the washing, drying his hands on the towel Tosh had hung on one of the cupboard doors beside the sink before warming his chilled hands in front of the fire for a few moments. Tosh and Owen were still talking in the other room, talking about Gwen and about other people they'd most likely lost.

"I'll miss her," Tosh admitted sadly.

"Yeah," Owens voice was choked now.

"I wonder what happened to my family," Tosh said sadly, "To my dad and my uncles and cousins. My sister, she was in London. Do you think they're all dead?"

"I don't know Tosh. My family were all in London too," Owens voice had not lost any of the choked sound Ianto had heard moments before, "They could all be dead for all that we will ever know if life continues on like this."

"My family were scattered across Wales," Ianto spoke as he entered the other room, joining the other two who had moved and were sat on the mattress closest the fire, wrapped in blankets. It was certainly getting chilly very quickly. "But there's always a chance they survived."

"A chance? You two heard that madman, he ordered the spheres to remove one tenth of the worlds population. That's a lot Ianto! One tenth!" Owen snapped angrily, "D'you know their chances?"

"We can't give up hope Owen," Ianto answered simply.

"At this rate hope will be all we have left and we can't live off hope alone Ianto," Owen looked away from the two.

"No, your right, we can't. But hope is the one thing that will keep us going," Ianto glared at the back of Owens head as Tosh let out a small sob, wiping at her eyes with her hands. "Come here Tosh." Ianto opened his arms and the woman slid into them quickly, pressing her face into his shoulder she began to sob almost pathetically. His hands rubbed soothing circles on her back, keeping her pressed up close against his chest, to be honest she was practically in his lap.

"I'm-I'm sorry Ianto…" she mumbled between tears.

"It's ok Tosh, I'm here for you. Cry away," Ianto said softly in her ear. And she did, even more pathetically than before. Owen turned around, biting his lip in an unusual display of worry for the woman.

"I didn't mean to worry you Tosh…it's just…I guess my nerves have reached the end of their tether today," Owen admitted sadly, "Gwen and everything else…" He gave a little gasp as tears threatened for him too, they were breaking down, their grief was starting to set in as Ianto had said it would, it was time for them to grieve.

"Owen…" Ianto beckoned to the other man with one hand, encouraging Owen to move closer, "Come on, Owen." Slowly Owen moved forwards on the mattress and was pulled into the hug as well, Ianto's own tears dripping down his pale cheeks. "Tonight's for this, for tears. Let it out."

"You too Ianto," Tosh whispered in his ear.

"I already am," Ianto smiled sadly and Tosh did think she felt a tear fall on the bare skin joining her neck and shoulder. But then it could have been from Owen who was now sobbing quietly into Ianto's other shoulder. "This is for all the people we have lost, the people we might have lost and the people that other people have lost." Ianto's voice wavered slightly at the end as he pressed his face into Tosh's hair, choking out his final words, "This is for Gwen, and for Diane, and for Lisa and for Jack…for the people we love."

And so the three co-workers and friends hugged and cried until they fell asleep, wrapped in each others arms. Ianto woke up about midnight, just as the fire was dying and extracting himself from the pile to add two more large bits of wood to the fire, adding some smaller twigs to get a blaze going again. He wasn't going to join the other two again, was going to slip into one of the other cold beds but Tosh, who wasn't really awake, grabbed him and pulled him back. He had after all been her pillow and she didn't like sleeping without a pillow.

Ianto had been right. After their night of grieving they set to work on their chosen tasks for their new home and team base.

Tosh set about making the place even more like a home. She scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms until they shined and bleached and cleaned everything she could bleach or clean. She cleaned the main room, dusting and sweeping away all the dirt and grime she could find. It took nearly a week before she was satisfied with the state of the place. When this was done she set about creating a vegetable garden for them, extending one of the existing and neglected plots in the village. After all they couldn't live on tinned food forever, their supply simply wouldn't last and it really wouldn't be too good for all of them. Sooner or later they were going to have to go and trap some animals somehow, they needed some meat in their diets as well as the vegetables. Tosh was determined to leave that lovely job for the boys to do.

Owen had taken the job of creating their base in the pub. Using his remarkably extensive and usually hidden knowledge of computers he hooked Tosh's laptop up to the Internet via the pubs phone line. Then, with a little help from the Asian technology expert, he made the connection secure and untraceable. They didn't want to be discovered after all. Tidying away the cables had taken the better part of a day and a whole role of duck-tape. After he found a walkers map of Wales in one of the houses he pinned it up on one of the walls and took to plotting the facts that they knew on it. Where they were. Where the hub was. And as he discovered news via the Internet of others he marked their positions too. It was a shame that they didn't have a map of the entire United Kingdom; it would have been useful to mark the important points of the rest of the country too. In a moment of inspiration Owen turned the chalkboard that Gwen used last time into a memorial plaque,

_ To those we have known and lost.  _

_ To those we did not know but still lost.  _

_ To those we will loose.  _

_ We honour and remember you.  _

_ Owen Harper. _

_ Toshiko Sato. _

_ Ianto Jones.  _

It had been a very touching thing to do three weeks into their new lives and had set the all off crying once again.

Now while Tosh and Owen were doing there set tasks Ianto was the odd-jobs man. Of course he kept them all supplied with teas and coffees and cold drinks too. He kept the pubs generator going, earning a few small cuts and many bruises. It was quite a temperamental machine and luckily it was so old that it ran on burning wood so there was no question of the fuel running out. And like her kept the fire in the generator going he kept the other two fires going too. He was also the one to fetch the wood and other burnable resources, spending hours at a time fetching and carrying. Between doing his odd jobs and fixing the jenny Ianto made a detailed inventory of everything they had from food to clothes to chairs to weapons. Owen had made a comment that Ianto really liked his filing; even after the end of the world he found an excuse to do filing. It had taken Ianto a month to finish it and by the end the list took up 36 double sided pages of an A4 notepad. But after the inventory was made and kept on the bar all three of them agreed it was a lot easier to find out if they had enough of something or if they'd found the thing they needed previously. No more searching around in the large kitchen/store room. One thing that Ianto had taken upon himself was their safety, he changed the locks on the two doors they used with ones from upstairs that had had the keys in them, making it so they could lock the pub at night, making them feel safer. And doing all this Ianto tried not to think about Jack, to worry about Jack…it didn't work. His worry for his lover and boss didn't go away, it just got smaller as other things took priority. Like surviving.

After two months they had settled into a daily routine but none of them had seen another human being except on the news broadcasts sent out by that madman in charge from the Valiant. They showed work camps, people being treated as slaves, rebellions being crushed, people being punished…and of course the daily announcements from the man himself.

"D'you think Jack's still alive?" Tosh asked quietly one day, "Sorry, stupid question. I meant do you think he's ok?" All three of them were on their knees in the vegetable garden doing what needed to be done and getting rather filthy doing it.

"Probably, you know Jack," Ianto tried to sound reassuring, he really did try.

"Yeah we do know Jack and knowing Jack he's probably managed to piss off all his guards by now," Owen chuckled softly.

"Jack does have a knack for doing that," Tosh agreed with a small smile, her mood brightening slightly, "I could do with a drink."

"One coffee coming up," Ianto brushed the dirt of his knees as he stood and then off his hands, "I'll bring it out to you when it's ready Tosh."

"I'll have one too if that's alright?" Owen said as he too stood, "I've got to watch the broadcast, see if there is anything important in it today and I'll need coffee to help me get through it." Owen was the one to watch the horrifying broadcasts every day, the one to take notes of important facts and keep a record of what was happening day by day. Ianto nodded to the other man, agreeing and walked into the kitchen; filling the kettle he hung it above the fire.

It was this moment, when both of the men were inside doing their individual tasks when **it** happened. **It** was the arrival of a patrol of spheres; their whining engines preceding them. Ianto and Owen ran to the doors; Ianto to the front, Owen to the back. Ianto slammed the door and locked it even though he knew it wouldn't stop them getting in if they wanted to. Owen kept his door open.

"Tosh! Get inside!" he screamed out at the woman who stood frozen in the garden, a little trowel still held in her hand, "Tosh move!" But she didn't, she stood frozen to the spot, staring at the spheres coming quickly towards her.

"Tosh!" Ianto was behind Owen, trying to push past him to get to her.

"No! It's too late," Owen hissed, grabbing the Welshman firmly about the waist, stopping him in his tracks.

"We can't just abandon her!" Ianto snapped, struggling hard. Owen put a hand over Ianto's mouth and held him tight enough about the waist to bruise, watching in silence at what was happening in the garden. Tosh was standing with her hands above her head and the five spheres had formed a tight circle around her, circling slowly.

"What is the nature of your presence here?" one demanded, moving in close to her face. She flinched back slightly in fear.

"I was…hiding here," Tosh answered fearfully.

"From us?"

"Yes."

"Honesty, a good trait. Master encourages honesty. Are you alone here?"

"I am now," Tosh wasn't taking her eyes of the spheres, she wasn't even going to look towards the pub in case the spheres got suspicious.

"Explain."

"I had two friends with me but…they died."

"How?"

"You shot one while we were escaping and his wound became infected. The other went hunting in the woods, it got dark…I think he fell. By the time I went to look for him…he was dead too." Tosh was putting on an Oscar worthy performance, there were tears in her eyes and on her cheeks as she glared up at the spheres accusingly, "I buried them myself."

"A resilient little human."

"I don't want to die so I must be resilient," Tosh looked around at the other spheres, "But my being resilient won't stop you killing me. So can we cut to the point please? Just get it over with." Tosh closed her eyes, ready for them to shoot her.

"We shall not kill this one. We need 'resilient' people in our camps. Take her to camp four. I will report to the master immediately." The lead sphere moved away from Tosh and then sped up into the sky, heading for wherever the Valiant was. The remaining spheres moved in even closer to Tosh.

"Walk."

Tosh did so, looking back over her shoulder one last time, seeing Owen and Ianto one last time. Owen couldn't move, he was frozen where he was, holding Ianto still, watching the woman who had just saved their lives walk willingly into captivity. It was only when they could no longer see Tosh or the spheres that Owen moved, releasing Ianto and leaning on the doorframe for support.

"Shit."

"We should have helped her!" Ianto shouted angrily at the other man.

"And get captured ourselves?" Owen asked, storming back into the pub, "We couldn't have done anything."

"We can go after them, get her back," Ianto rushed to the weapons resting on the bar. Owen grabbed him once more, biting back a cry of pain as Ianto struggled.

"No! What happened to the calm and rational Ianto? We can't do that, we'd all be killed!" Owen snapped, giving Ianto a jerk to emphasise his statement.

"We've got to do something!"

"We will but like you said before we have to think first," Owen said, gently turning Ianto in his arms, gripping one arm tightly while gently using his other hand to cup Ianto's cheek, "We think and then we act."

"What's there to think about?" Ianto asked, "They've got Tosh."

"They said she was going to Camp Four. We can hack into the Master's computer network and find out where this camp is. We'll gather information and then when we're ready we'll rescue Tosh and maybe some others. Do some good!" Owen said calmly, a complete role reversal of when they first arrived at the pub.

"But Tosh…"

"Tosh can take care of herself, we've just seen she can convincingly lie for England and she's had Torchwood survival training. She'll be ok while we organise our prison break," Owen stroked Ianto's cheek gently, not even thinking of what he was doing, "Ok?"

"O-Ok," Ianto said, surprised by Owens behaviour but not against it. Human contact. Except for the three of them sharing body heat on cold nights, pushing their mattresses together in front of the fire to create one big bed, this was the first human contact he'd had since Jack. "You still want that coffee?"

"I'm going to need more than one. I'm going to start on our plans," Owen smiled softly and then with one last stroke of Ianto's cheek he moved to the bar and sat on one of the high stools and got to work on the laptop. And so Ianto, rubbing the tingling feeling out of his cheek as he went, went into the kitchen to make one coffee and one tea. Tosh's mug went back onto the shelf.

Owen couldn't take it any more, lying in the fire lit room listening to Ianto sobbing into his pillow, trying and failing to be quiet. Sitting up smoothly Owen slipped out of his bed, the cooler air bringing Goosebumps out on the skin not covered by his t-shirt and boxers. Walking quickly he crouched by Ianto's mattress and pulled back the covers slightly, revealing Ianto's tear streaked face.

"Owen? What are you doing?" Ianto asked, rolling over to completely face Owen in the flickering firelight. Using a shaking hand he wiped his cheeks quickly.

"Getting into bed with you," Owen replied doing just that.

"Why?" Ianto asked.

"Because I don't want to hear you cry yourself to sleep again," Owens blunt answer accompanied his arms going around Ianto and pulling him in until the Welshman's face was pressed into Owens chest.

"I thought you were asleep," Ianto mumbled, "I always waited…"

"I heard you. It takes me a while to drop off. You cried when we first got here, then you stopped. But the thing with Tosh…you've cried every night since haven't you?" Owens hands had begun to rub Ianto's back soothingly.

"I-I don't deal with guilt well," Ianto mumbled into Owens shirt.

"Guilt?" Owen asked, "For what?"

"Surviving," Ianto looked up at Owen, "Lisa, Jack, Gwen and now Tosh…why was it Tosh that was taken? Why was it Gwen that died? Why did Jack leave us? Why did Lisa have to die? Why did she survive in the first place? Why…?"

"Why did any of this happen?" Owen asked, hugging Ianto in tight, "You've got to stop thinking like that Ianto or it'll go down hill from there. Lisa was not your fault; it was the Cybermens. Gwen wasn't your fault; it was the spheres and the Masters fault. And Jack…well he's Jack." Ianto was shaking in his arms now. "There is no guilt in surviving Ianto, the only guilt we could be allowed to feel is if we survived and then did nothing to help those in need."

"Is that what you really think?" Ianto asked softly.

"It's what I try to think," Owen answered. Ianto didn't say any more, just snuggled in closer to Owens side and soon both men were sound asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

** Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.  **

** Warning(s): SLASH! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.  **

** The Year That Never Was.  **

Chapter Three.

After that first night sleeping in each other's arms Owen moved his mattress next to Ianto's creating a basic but effective double bed for the two of them to share. When they wanted to they could stick to their own mattresses and duvets of course, some nights they'd merely hold hands but most nights they'd sleep curled up together or spooned together. It wasn't really sexual to begin with, just comfort…but it grew.

"Yan…"

"Owen…"

Their gasps and cries filled the pub as they writhed together on the mattresses, building up some good memories to bury the bad ones. During the day the couple were all business, setting up their plan to rescue Tosh and as many others as they could. And the plan was almost ready to implicate.

"Owen, what will we do once we get Tosh back?" Ianto asked one day as he brought the coffee in for both of them. "What will we do once we get Tosh and anyone else we rescue here?"

"Well we'll get them all settled in upstairs and…"

"No I meant with us."

"Oh…well if they, the ones we rescue, they can live upstairs and we'll stay down here. Together," Owen linked his hand with Ianto's. "We'll be fine."

"What about Tosh? She won't want to live upstairs."

"She won't mind us," Owen said, sounding sure, "It's Tosh we're talking bout here, she won't mind…except maybe to feel left out." Both men chuckled, remembering Mary and the revelation of Tosh's hidden…kinky side.

"I doubt she'll want to see us having sex Owen," Ianto said, squeezing Owens hand gently and smiling, "I don't think she's the kind who likes to watch."

"Well if she does mind we'll manage. There are plenty of houses for a night time, or daytime if you'd prefer, rendezvous," Ianto made a face, "I know it's not ideal and the place is full of horrible memories but now I've got you Yan I am not going to give you up." The 'yucky' face turned into a soft smile.

"Well then, with the oncoming possibility of sex in a scary and abandoned buildings how about we make use of the freedom we have now…you know we've never done it up against the bar before," Ianto said slowly, teasingly as he released Owens hand to strip himself of the simple t-shirt he was wearing, revealing smooth skin to the wide eyed Doctor.

"And I thought it was Jack that had always been the kinky one," Owen said with a smile before he pounced. Only one other person had fucked Ianto so thoroughly and made him feel so wonderful…so alive. Jack. And Ianto had fallen in love with Jack…did that mean he was falling in love with Owen?

"Right Yan, I've rigged the car there to explode. The explosion should distract the spheres long enough for us to get in and get them out," Owen said calmly as he and Ianto hid on the desolate streets, waiting for the first group of slaves to be brought back from the work camp. "Don't look back when you're running, just head straight back to the base. I'll meet you there."

"Ok."

Both men were dressed all in black, mainly just because it looked cool but also because black could hide them in shadows best. And both were armed with everything they had, the guns, kitchen knives and metal poles/bars taken from the kitchens of the other houses. They didn't need the pipes after all but they were good hitting sticks. And they were very prepared to use them.

"Here they come, can you see Tosh yet?" Owen asked. Ianto shook his head and they both watched the exhausted looking crowd of people stumbling down the road, escorted by only three spheres. No human guards were in sight which was a relief; the two men didn't think they could shoot at the human guards with intent to kill. It just wasn't the same as taking out the spheres, they were just people trying to survive under difficult circumstances.

"There she is," Ianto gasped, pointing to the middle of the crowd, "She's so thin." He was right, Tosh had lost so much weight and she was so terribly dirty. A long cut above her eye was dripping blood down her cheek and she clutched her hand to her chest even as she helped the person beside her along the road. "Blow up the car. We have to help her now!"

"Wait for it…" Owen said, his hands itching, ready to pull the string attached to the homemade bomb. "Wait for it…now!" He pulled sharply and after a few agonising seconds the car blew up quite spectacularly. The people screamed and all three of the spheres went to the other end of the road to investigate, proving once more that they weren't very smart. They'd left their charges unguarded.

Ianto and Owen took off at a run towards the twenty or so people huddled against the buildings front walls. Owen went straight to Tosh, giving her a brief hug before pulling her back towards the way they came. Ianto began herding the other people in the same direction. It was madness but eventually they all got the message, this was a rescue not an attack and ran in a semi-organised group.

"The spheres! They're coming back!" one of the women screamed almost hysterically. A shot rang out and a man yelled out and fell, dead before he hit the ground in a crumpled mess. Then another shot and another scream and another body lying on the road.

"Run for the woods! Hide in the woods!" Ianto shouted as he pulled his gun from its holster, stopping and turning to face the oncoming spheres. Owen didn't hesitate in letting go of Tosh's hand and doing the same.

"Tosh get them out of here!" he shouted at the woman who had paused along with him. Slowly she nodded and continued to run, urging the people to too. Ianto was the first to open fire, ducking behind some wreckage for cover. Even before Owen opened fire one of the spheres took a hit and was sent spinning away. "Nice shot Yan!" Now Owen, also taking cover, opened fire. Two on two.

"I did tell you I was aiming for your shoulder," Ianto grinned at his lover, firing another shot. Limited ammo meant they were both being careful, going for kill shots only. The spheres however were firing willy-nilly and that was not good as they weren't just firing at their attackers, they were firing at the people running. And they were killing the people running.

"Who taught you to-TAKE THAT YOU BASTARD!" Owens shout was one of triumph as the sphere on the left took a hit and fell like the metal it was through the air, hitting the ground with a thud. The last sphere was a fighter, weaving and dodging their shots. And it was also the one responsible for killing the most people.

"Jack!" Ianto shouted over all the noise.

"What?"

"It was Jack who taught me to shoot!"

"Well that explains it!" Owen laughed loudly, a laugh that cut off abruptly when Ianto cried out in pain and fell for the dirty ground. He'd been hit.

As he fell Ianto dropped his gun, his now free right hand pressing down onto the deep wound to his left elbow. Tears were forced from his eyes as he called out again. Owen cried out too, with rage, filled with anger and fear for his lover. His shots at the sphere became more rage driven but luckily, even as angry as he was, his aim was still quite good. The sphere took a direct hit and like the second plummeted.

"Yan!" Owen cried out as he rushed across the street, dropping to his knees by his groaning love. Blood was flowing freely from between Ianto's fingers and the smell of scorched skin and bone was so strong even Owen, a trained Doctor and Medical Examiner, felt sick. "Yah I'm sorry but you've got to move, they'll have sent more spheres on the way." Owen took of his belt, worn out of habit even though the black trousers he was wearing were a size too small and fit rather snugly, and fixed it tightly on Ianto's upper arm, creating much needed a tourniquet. He hoped to God Ianto wouldn't bleed out before they got somewhere safe and he could do more. "Keep pressure on it Yah. Can you walk Yan?"

"Yes but…you'll have to help me Owen…fuck it hurts…" Ianto groaned. When Owen pulled him to his feet he let out a cry of pain.

"I'm sorry Yan," Owen breathed as he put an arm securely around Ianto's slightly too slim waist. Keeping his grip both gentle and firm at the same time he got Ianto to hurry into the woods. After five minutes Owen considered them suitably hidden he leaned Ianto up against a strong looking tree. Not even thinking about it he tipped at the bottom of his t-shirt, tearing of three long strips and leaving his stomach bare. And then with all the expertise of his medical training he bound the wound, freeing Ianto's hand which immediately grabbed onto the tree for support. And in doing this he realised sickeningly that the wound was deep, so deep that it had shattered Ianto's elbow joint.

"Is it bad?" Ianto asked, his voice thick with pain.

"Nothing I can't sort out when we get back to the pub. Now can you make it the rest of the way or do you want me to carry you?" Owen asked, his hands gently stroking Ianto's sides as he spoke, his eyes not hiding the worry he felt for his lover.

"You can't carry me Owen I'm too heavy," Ianto said simply, truthfully, "I'll walk…but I could use a hand…"

"Say no more," Owen said with a small smile. Carefully he put Ianto's good arm around his shoulders, holding his right with his right hand while slipping his left arm around Ianto's trim waist. "This ok?"

"Yes…but where's Tosh? She made it out right?"

"We didn't pass he body so she's either in these woods somewhere or she's heading for the pub," Owen answered as they set of together as fast as they could manage. Ianto's feet felt unusually heavy and his head light, like it was full of cotton wool but he struggled and pulled himself together.

"How many bodies did we pass…I didn't notice?" Ianto asked sadly.

"About twelve," Owen sighed sadly.

"Oh God…" Ianto groaned, tears coming to his eyes, "So many…"

"We were never going to be able to save them all but…well I never expected it to feel like this," Owen admitted softly, "Now I know why Jack behaved like he did sometimes." Ianto nodded softly, stopping them walking briefly so that he could give Owen a soft kiss.

"Someone has to make the tough decisions," he murmured quietly, his lips still close to Owens, "And just remember that the others are alive and free because of us." He stumbled slightly as the world spun uncontrollably around him. "Whoa…"

"Yan?" Owen supported him more firmly, fearing that Ianto was going to collapse on him. "What's wrong?"

"World's spinning…"

"Can you still walk?" Owen asked worriedly. Ianto nodded weakly and this time Owen hurried the pair of them. Ianto's wound needed proper treatment, in an ideal world a hospital. This wasn't an ideal world so the pub would do but they needed to get there fast.

The door was open when they arrived at the pub and they were instantly on alert. Owen drew his gun reminding the now groggy Ianto that he had no idea what had happened to his after he fell. Ianto let go of Owens shoulders and leaned heavily on the doorframe, freeing Owen up to check the pub.

"Owen! It's me!" Tosh's voice screamed as Owen entered, ready to fire at anything that moved. The young Asian woman stepped out of the shadows, her hands raised just in case.

"Thank fuck…" Owen breathed; lowering his gun he pulled his friend into a tight hug. "Oh thank fuck…" Tosh let out a sob and clutched at his shirt, pressing her face into his shoulder as she began to sob.

"I knew you'd come but…but I…" she mumbled through her sobs, "We lost so many…Only seven other than me Owen. Seven! Out of twenty-three!" He pulled her head back down onto his shoulder and rocked her comfortingly, rubbing her back gently with his hands.

"I know Tosh but it was the only way we could get you out, we had to take the risk," Owen mumbled apologetically in her ear. Neither noticed Ianto swaying slightly at the door; neither of them heard him moan of pain. "Are any of the seven hurt? And where are they?"

"I got them something to eat, they're in the kitchen. And none of them had any major injuries, none that I could see anyway," Tosh answered, leaning back and wiping at her face with her fingers. "But Megs is seven months pregnant. It's lucky you came when you did, she almost couldn't work anymore and the spheres had orders to kill those who could no longer work."

"Pregnant?" Owen asked in surprise.

"Owe…" Ianto nearly staggered into the room, lurching to the left until his hands found the wall and he secured his footing once more. He felt sick and tired and he really wished someone would notice him and stop the world from spinning.

"I'll have to give her an examination, with all the stress and the work…"

"Owen!" Ianto gave a final cry before the world went dark. He was unconscious before he hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Ianto! Shit!" Owen shouted, rushing over to Ianto's fallen form. He cursed himself silently for forgetting so easily that Ianto was injured. "Tosh clear the table off and get one of the men to help me get him onto the table." Tosh threw the things off the table, uncaring of what they were and where they landed and then she rushed into the kitchen, returning with a strong looking man. "I'm going to need my med kit Tosh and a-a very sharp, big kitchen knife. Sterilised."

"W-W-Why the knife?" Tosh asked worriedly, shaking.

"I saw the wound earlier Tosh. The only thing I can do is…is amputate. If I don't he'll die of blood loss or infection," he said quickly, straightening Ianto's body out on the table top, "Can you get someone to make up some bandages and put one of the pokers into the fire. I'll need to cauterise the amputation after."

"But Owen we can't…"

"He'll die Tosh!" Owens voice broke and his eyes welled up, "I won't loose him Tosh now please do what I say. Please get the things I need." His voice was shaking now as he used one of the knives from his belt to cut Ianto's top away, not touching the belt/tourniquet or the bandages on Ianto's arm. Tosh had rushed into the kitchen, giving her orders and then returned with his med-kit.

Slowly and with shaking hands he checked the tourniquet and then unwrapped the bandages, checking on the wound. He needed to reassure himself that amputation really was the only option that they had. A young woman came out of the kitchen, carrying a steaming knife, recently boiled. She looked positively sick as he took it and assessed the sharpness of the blade. It would do the job well.

"What's your name?" he asked finally, still judging where to start his amputation and trying to stop his hands shaking. Shaking hands were not going to be good for a DIY operation.

"Brydie."

"Right? Can you grab the bottle of Vodka from behind the bar and give him a nice big dose. It'll have to do for an anaesthetic," she nodded and obeyed him, helping Ianto to take three big gulps from the bottle. "Now Brydie, would you be able to keep an eye on him while I work? Make sure he doesn't wake up? Give him more Vodka if he starts to?" The woman nodded shakily, positioning herself at Ianto's head, the knuckles of the hand clutching the bottle white. "He can't handle his drink so there's not much chance he'll wake up but it's just in case. I don't want him in pain…"

"I'll stay."

"Thank you." Owen turned to Tosh, knowing she didn't want to see this. "Can you have a bowl of water and a clean set of cloths ready? And the poker? It needs to be glowing red, that's when it's hot enough."

"I-I should stay…Ianto…he…"

"It's ok Tosh. Please Tosh, do as I say…you don't need to see this…" Owen reached out and gently rubbed his thumb over her cheek. Slowly she nodded and walked from the room, wiping her eyes as she went. Leaning down Ianto pressed a soft kiss to Ianto's forehead causing Brydie's eyes to widen slightly. "I'm sorry love." And the he began the operation.

It seemed to take forever and there was blood everywhere. Ianto had moaned twice and the young woman had shakily given him more Vodka, refusing to look at the operation. Owen called out for the water and the clothes and started to clean the wound he had just made, pressing the clothes on the bleeding stump as he called out for the poker. Tosh herself brought it out, taking a deep breath as she saw Owen pushing Ianto's now dead arm away.

"This…this is going to smell…" Owen warned quietly. Brydie bit her lip and Tosh looked away. Owen wished he could too but he had no choice. The sound of Ianto's skin and muscle burning was awful but was nothing compared to the smell. The seconds passed as Owen cauterised the wound he'd made and by the time he was finished his hands were shaking like an old mans, so badly that he managed to burn his own arm as he pushed the poker into Tosh's hands.

"What now?" Tosh asked.

"I'll clean it again and then bandage the stump. We'll have to change the dressings every few hours to keep it clean from infection," Owen said, his body sagging slightly at the relief that the operation was over. "Once the wounds bandaged we can change his clothes and put him to bed with someone always with him. I can't believe I forgot about his injury earlier."

"So he'll be alright?" Tosh asked.

"As long as he doesn't get an infection he'll be fine in a little while, with lots of rest and relaxation," Owen answered, "God Tosh we've missed you." They hugged fiercely again, fingers turning white as they gripped each other with enough force to bruise. Finally they pulled apart, a little more composed than before. "Now let's get our new friends settled in upstairs. Ianto and I have been living down here so it's all free for them up there and you can choose wherever you want to sleep."

Tosh nodded and set about locating people to beds/mattresses while Owen expertly used a shredded sheet to bandage Ianto's stump. As she worked on getting them bedding and pillows she noticed that while her mattress had been leant up against one of the walls and that Ianto's and Owens had been pushed together. She assumed this had been for warmth.

"Hey mate, what's your name?" Owen asked as he caught the guy who had helped him lift Ianto onto the table abut to go into the kitchen.

"George Keeping." Well he wasn't Welsh, that was for sure.

"Where are you from George?" Owen asked, curious about the accent.

"Liverpool."

"Ah," that explained the accent; "Well can you help me get Ianto onto the mattress over there. I want to make him comfortable." George nodded and between them they carefully got Ianto laid down on the mattress. "Thank you."

"No problem. Give us a shout if you need any more help," George smiled at Owen before heading into the kitchen. He returned a few moments later with a tray of glasses, filled with water. Owen gently tucked the duvet around Ianto and built the pillows up underneath him two under his head and one under what was left of his arm. That left one for Owen to use on his side of the bed; they'd had four pillows between them since they'd begun sharing.

"Yan…please don't hate me for having to do this to you," Owen said softly, pressing a kiss to Ianto's pale lips, "Please, please don't hate me love."

From where she stood at the foot of the stairs Tosh covered her mouth to silence her gasp her shock. Turning she returned back upstairs, leaving Owen alone with his love. At least now she knew the reason the two beds had been put together…

Three days passed and Ianto remained out cold, Owen explained it was his bodies way for coping with blood loss and shock. He was pale and his breathing was a little shallow but all things considered he was doing well.

The newcomers were settling in slowly. Megs was under the constant supervision of everyone else and wasn't allowed to do pretty much anything. She spent most of her time sat by Ianto. Brydie and Tosh had, as a team, taken over the kitchen and were between them making every meal as delicious as they could. George, who it turned out was an ex-dancer, had now taken over the job of firewatcher and wood gatherer. Ellen, Tom and Drew, all three of them ex-office worker had been given garden duty. And all these people taking these jobs meant Owen could focus on Ianto's health and Megs baby. Drew had also temporarily taken over watching the daily broadcasts. Owen would take that less than pleasant job back when Ianto was well again.

It was the middle of the night when Ianto finally stirred, waking to find himself held protectively in Owens strong arms. Going to touch Owen on the shoulder Ianto froze, why couldn't he feel his left arm? All he could feel was a throbbing pain above his left elbow.

"Wha-?" his voice was raspy, throat one dry. He looked down at his arm, expecting to find it bandaged or in a splint or something. He did not expect to find nothing. His breathing sped up as he tried to lift his arm and saw this stump move instead. He started to breath sharply, ever sharper than before, he was almost hyperventilating. This was more than enough to wake Owen up.

"Yan! Calm down for me Yan, calm you breathing for me love," Owen held his shoulder gently with one hand and cupped his cheek with the other.

"My arm…" Tosh, sleeping near the fire woke too and looked over at them. She'd had three days to get used to Owen and Ianto being an 'Item' but of course Ianto had been out cold.

"I know love, I know. Calm down Yan, calm down and I can explain," Owen pressed a chaste kiss to Ianto's lips, "Calm down love…" Slowly, ever so slowly Ianto's breathing slowed down to a normal pace, "Tosh, could you fetch a glass of water please?"

"Of course," the young woman jumped up and rushed into the kitchen.

"What happened…to my arm?" Ianto asked as Owen gently got him to sit up, supporting his lover gently. "Owen! What…happened!"

"I had to amputate."

"What?"

"I didn't have a choice Yan, the wound was bad. I would rather loose your arm that your life," Owen explained, his voice choked, "I had to save you Yan, I love you and this was the only way I could think of." Ianto watched as tears filled Owens eyes, "Please don't hate me."

"I can't hate you anymore Owen, you know that," Ianto slid closer, into Owens arms, "And I don't think it would be right for me to hate you for saving my life." They kissed softly and were still kissing when Tosh came back, Ianto's hand in Owens hair, Owens gently cradling Ianto to him. It was a hot sight, just as hot as Jack and Ianto always were when they snogged.

"Water?" she asked with a smile when they broke apart.

"Yes please," Ianto moaned, reaching out with his hand. Tosh chuckled softly and handed him the glass carefully before sitting on the bed beside them. "Thanks Tosh…Tosh!" It was like Ianto had only just realised who he was seeing and talking to. Giving another cry he dropped the glass, Owen catching it luckily, pulled her to him with his arm. She hugged him back tightly. "You're safe and you're here!"

"I've been here three days," she said softly, kissing his cheek.

"Three days?"

"Uh-huh and he's hardly left your side. It's quite rude actually, I've only just got back and I'm running things again," she teased, "You men are hopeless."

"That we are. And Owen can't cook for shit." Owen cried out in mock annoyance and slapped Ianto's thigh. Ianto merely grinned and pressed a kiss to Owens cheek. Tosh laughed,

"He cooked at all?" she asked, "It's a miracle!"

"No, a disaster."

"Well you don't have to worry about his cooking anymore Yan, the kitchen is for Brydie and me only," Tosh smiled at Ianto. He frowned.

"Who's Brydie?"

"One of the people we rescued," Owen answered, "You'll meet them all in the morning but now I want you to go back to sleep love. With your wounds you need all of the rest that you can get."

"Are you…alright…about this Tosh?" Ianto asked nervously, gesturing to himself and Owen. Her arms were immediately around both of them.

"Of course I am, just hoping. I'll find someone eventually," she kissed both of them on the cheek, "You look really good together." She leaned back, her tone becoming motherly, "Now Ianto, Owens right. You need your sleep. The more you rest the sooner you'll be back on your feet making your wonderful coffee."

"Tosh, coffees a two handed job," Ianto reminded her sadly.

"Not any more it isn't. You'll just have to adapt because I refuse to face the end of the world without Ianto's Amazing Coffee." Ianto smiled as he received a kiss on his cheek once more. "Sweet dreams." Once she'd gone back to her own bed Owen reached up and set the glass on the nearest table and forced Ianto to lie down.

"Is there anything I can get you before you can sleep?" Owen asked.

"No, just a hug," Ianto pulled Owen down onto the bed with him. For a few moments the two of them shifted around to get comfortable and it ended up with Ianto curled into Owens arms, his head resting on his lovers chest, right above his heart.

"Ok love?" Owen asked. Ianto just nodded and in moments it seemed was asleep. "Sweet dreams Yan." And, curled protectively around his lover, Owen drifted off to sleep.

After a month Tosh and Owen had to sadly admit that they could barely remember what Ianto had looked like with two arms, they were so used to seeing the pinned up sleeve or the stump. Ianto however could remember very well what he used to be like, what he used to be able to do. So many times he had to stop himself from sinking into self-pity and depression, to do so wouldn't help anyone.

"You ok Yan?" Owen asked, coming up behind the taller man he slipped his arms around the trim waist and rested his cheek on Ianto's shoulder blade.

"Yeah," Ianto replied, resting his hand on Owens, "Just thinking."

"What about?" Owen asked, closing his eyes and just enjoying the fell of the warm body he was pressed against. Ianto blinked away a sad tear as he continued to gaze out the window.

"Jack."

"Oh," Owen sighed before releasing his hold on Ianto to slide around so he was between his lover and the window, "What about him?"

"I was wondering who those people were, the ones that were with him when all this began," Ianto said quietly, "The woman and the man that the Master attacked. Who were they? And were they the ones Jack disappeared with? And if not how did he meet them, how did they ending up facing that madman together?"

"Whoa, that's some serious thinking you've been doing," Owen smiled softly, "But as to an answer…I don't know."

"Thanks. You're so much help," Ianto finally smiled down at his lover.

"I try," leaning up Owen kissed his lips gently, "But whoever they are Jack seemed to trust them so I think we should too," another kiss, one filled with more passion as Owen pulled their bodies close together. Ianto moaned into the welcome distraction, weaving his fingers through Owens dark hair. Pressing Owen back into the wall Ianto hitched his leg up slightly, his thigh pressing against the growing hardness between Owens legs…

"Whoa!" Brydie had just rushed into the room and put a hand over her eyes theatrically, "Sorry to interrupt, really sorry to interrupt, but Megs waters just broke. All over the bathroom floor, rather disgusting actually. Need a doctor."

"Shit."

Meagan was dead.

She'd died shortly after giving birth to a beautiful little girl. Owen had done everything he could to save her but in the end everything he had wasn't enough. It had taken him nearly two hours to say anything and then his first words were a demand for something very strong and very alcoholic.

Tosh and Brydie had taken charge of the baby girl, had cleaned her and dressed her, fed her and put to bed. But then it came to naming her; they couldn't go on calling her Meagan's baby. Tosh had finally come up with the perfect name, Gwen Meagan Harkness, a name to remember the three people they had lost. There were tears all round when Tosh had explained the name to the group, most for the memory of the wonderful Megs but three people wept for the one person they had lost and the one person they might never see again.

Ianto had set about preparing her funeral, picking the plot, helping George make the marker, helping George dig the grave (which was interesting with one arm) and prepared Meagan's body for the funeral. It was a horrible job but someone had to do it and Ianto knew, with the state that everyone else was in, it had to be him that did it. He spent the rest of his time comforting Owen, reassuring him that her death was not his fault, that he had done everything he could to save her.

"But I should have done more…"

"There was no more. Only a hospital could have saved her."

The funeral was short and sweet and very, very sad. Tosh had stayed inside the pub with little Gwen, Owen warning that being outside on the second day of her life would not be a good idea for the tiny girl. Despite the slight chill in the wind it was a bright and sunny day, a beautiful day that would have made Megs smile.

"I should have saved her," Owen said weakly for probably the hundredth time as he and Ianto cuddled in front of the fire the evening of the funeral.

"There was nothing more you could do Owen," Ianto replied, also probably for the hundredth time, leaning his head on Owens shoulder lightly, "It wasn't your fault, you need to stop blaming yourself."

"But it feels like it's my fault, it feels like I'm a terrible Doctor and that if I'd been better I'd have been able to save her…" Everyone else was thankfully already asleep, Tosh upstairs sharing Georges bed. A development both men were pleased about, their friend needed someone.

"Owen if you weren't a brilliant Doctor I'd be dead." The bluntness of Ianto's statement sent a shiver down Owens spine. "If you weren't as brilliant as I know you to be I would be in a grave next to Megs. There was nothing you could do." Owen started to shake, his body quivering beside his lover and Ianto pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Come to bed Owen, let me take some of your pain away. Let me help you."

Ianto rose and carefully walked the few paces to their mattresses, slipping his shirt off seductively as he went. Owen stared after him for a few moments, watching as Ianto dropped his trousers, kicking them off his ankles. And then Owen was up; rushing towards the love and comfort he knew he needed. His clothes disappeared as he moved and soon they were pressed together, skin to skin, arms around each other.

"Make it all right Yan…"

"I will Owen. I will."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.**

**Warning(s): SLASH! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.**

** The Year That Never Was.  **

Chapter Four. 

"Someone's coming!" Brydie said worriedly, rushing into the pub from where she'd been pegging out the washing on the line, "Coming across the fields!"

"Brydie, take Gwen and get everyone inside. Lock the doors. Only open up for one of us three. Tosh, Yan, you're with me," Owen ordered, grabbing his gun form the bar and one of the knives he always carried. Tosh, after handing Gwen to Brydie, put her own gun and holster on and then helped Ianto put his on.

"What the plan?" Tosh asked as they stepped out into the sunlight, immediately spotting the man heading their way. He was dressed in dark clothes and looked really out of place and on his back was a huge rucksack, apparently stuffed to the brim. They could also see he was armed with a shotgun.

"Challenge him and if his answer isn't satisfactory we shoot him," Owen answered, drawing his weapon from it's holster. Tosh and Ianto did the same.

"As long as he doesn't shoot us first," Tosh pointed out.

"And any shots would bring the spheres down on us," Ianto pointed out.

"Then I'll slit his throat," Owen gestured to the knife in his belt.

"Why don't we try not killing him?" Tosh suggested. The guy had noticed them approaching him and had changed his direction so he was coming directly at them. But he was also walking more warily, much like they were, his hands gripping his shotgun tightly.

"Who are you?" Owen shouted once they were close enough.

"Who are you?" he asked back.

"We asked first!" Owen shouted. Ianto resisted the urge to mutter something about maturity. This wasn't the time. The guy put his hand into his pocket and drew out a black ID holder which he threw rather violently to Owen. Owen didn't move to catch it and it struck him in the middle of his chest. Keeping his eyes on the man Owen bent and picked the ID up.

"PC Andrew Davidson," the guy said calmly. Owen glanced down to check.

"I know your name…" Tosh said slowly. "How do I know your name?"

"Ever been arrested by me in Cardiff?" the young man asked cheerfully.

"We don't get arrested," Owen said cockily, almost as if the world was back to normal. Ianto smiled slightly, taking the ID from his lover he looked at the photo himself. Without a beard and with neatly cut hair Ianto recognised him immediately,

"Andy. PC Andy. You're Gwens PC Andy," Ianto said quickly. The mans gaze snapped to Ianto, his face twisted slightly in a frown. Then he nodded. Ianto turned to Owen and Tosh, "He's Gwens PC Andy."

"Well now that we've clarified that my name is Andy and my old partners names was Gwen how about we sort out who the hell you are?" Andy suggested.

"We're Torchwood."

"Oh Bloody Hell! Of all the people left in the world I have to bump into spooky Torchwood!" Andy huffed loudly, putting on a silly voice for 'spooky Torchwood', "So where is Gwen?" Ianto and Tosh looked down, biting their lips. Owens face just hardened even more.

"Gwen died in the attack."

"I'm sorry," Andy mumbled, a flash of the smiling woman he loved lighting up in his memory, "She was…amazing."

"Yes she was."

"Could you lower your guns please? You know who I am now and I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to talk to you actually," Andy looked pointedly at the guns. Slowly they lowered and were returned to their holsters. "Thank you. Now…any chance of a cup of tea? I haven't had one in…well a year actually?" His voice was cheerful and his grin infectious.

"I think we can handle getting you cup of tea," Tosh smiled.

"Then you can tell us this 'story' of yours," Ianto said, turning to return to the pub, leading them away. Tosh turned to go too but Owen stopped Andy following with a hand on his chest.

"Hand over your weapons," he said calmly, "Just because we now know each other doesn't mean I'm letting you enter our camp armed like you are." Andy nodded calmly and handed over the shotgun and then a pistol from the back of his jeans.

"That's all I've got," he said once Owen had them both. Only then did the two men follow after Tosh and Ianto. Tea was quickly made, although Owen and Tosh went for coffee and then everyone gathered around Andy in the main room. Once stripped of his pack and layers of warm clothing they could all see how thin he was under his light blue t-shirt and jeans.

"So what's this story?" Tosh asked.

"It's the story of Martha Jones, the woman who is going to save the Earth," Andy replied with a grin. "If you watched the first contact broadcast you'll have seen her, she was one of the three trying to stop the Master."

"The woman with Jack," Ianto mumbled.

"She's walking the Earth, telling the story I'm about to tell you. She tells the people just like you, those resisting the occupation, she tells the slaves working in the camps and she tells them to pass it on. Just like I'm doing. This is what she says," Andy brought out a little slip of paper from his pocket and his audience frowned slightly, "What? My memory's not brilliant and it's an old habit to jot important information down. Now listen in." He cleared his throat and began. _"If Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times and you never even knew he was there. He never stops, he never stays, he never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him. I love him. And I know what he can do. Someday soon there'll be a countdown, a countdown for everyone to watch. When that countdown comes we're to use it, we're to think of him. The Doctor."_

"How is thinking of him going to save the world?" Owen asked sceptically.

"Hold your horses, she explains that," Andy said, looking up from his notes to glare at the other man, _"It may not sound like much, thought, prayer if you want to call it that but it will save the world. The Master has a telepathic field over the entire world, linking each and every one of us. And if we all think of the Doctor at the exact same moment…well you just wait and see what happens. Spread this message, tell everyone you can. Get the word out there. The end of this reign of terror is coming."_

"Well, that's a quite a story," Owen said finally, breaking the silence that had followed Andy's speech.

"What are we going to do about it?" George asked quietly, shifting little Gwen in his arms. They all took turns looking after the little girl who was quite vocal now, no words of course but lots of gurgles and nonsense. Brydie rose quietly and gathered people's now empty cups, listening in of course as she went to wash them up in the kitchen. Sometimes it was hard to break old habits like cleaning up empty cups.

"Do as she says, wait for the countdown," Tosh slipped down off her chair and snuggled in close to George's side, leaning her head on his shoulder. It hadn't come as a surprise when people began pairing off in their group. Owen and Ianto had started it really. George had asked Tosh 'out' a week after the funeral and they'd been together since. And it was those two who really took care of Gwen; they were like a little family most of the time. Ellen and Tom coupled up around the same time. Brydie and Drew however were still dancing around the subject with much matchmaking from the others. It was only a matter of time.

"And tell anyone else you see," Andy pointed out.

"We don't see anyone else. We're a little off the beaten track," Ianto pointed out, "You're the first person that's ever come across us." Andy looked a little bit surprised at that, as if he had been expecting them to have a regular trawl of visitors.

"But we could go to the hub," Owen said quietly.

"Huh?" Tosh and Ianto looked at him surprised.

"If help is needed we can do good from the hub, we can help Jack more from there than from here," Owen continued. Ianto nodded slowly. "We'll leave tomorrow morning, there'll be lots of work to do at the Hub to get it working again."

"And we'll have to keep it off the Masters radar," Ianto pointed out.

"What about the others?" Tosh asked, looking to George worriedly.

"They can stay here, we've got spare weapons, they'll be safe," Owen answered, "Anyway Gwen couldn't make that journey." All eyes shifted to the little girl sucking happily on her thumb, a habit she had only just started doing. "So, this will be our last night together until all of this is over. I say we have a party."

And have as party they did, there was food, music courtesy of Tosh and her laptop, there was even dancing. It wasn't until well past midnight that they all went bed, snuggling in their beds in their couples. Andy was surprised to be invited to join Ellen and Tom in their bed.

Morning came all too soon and the three pulled out their long un-used rucksacks. They packed their clothes and enough supplies to get them to the hub, they were considerably lighter than the last time the three had worn them, almost a year ago. Andy was given some supplies too as he readied his things. Tosh had taken George upstairs to say goodbye in private while Owen and Ianto made sure that the others would be all right without them. They were assured that they would be fine.

"Well this is goodbye for now then. We'll email you once we get to the hub," Ianto said as they gathered outside for the final farewell.

"How long will it take you?" George asked, "To get to your hub I mean?"

"It took us a week last time but we had a car for a while then so maybe a fortnight," Owen said calmly, "If we don't email you within a fortnight…well…"

"Yeah, I know," George interrupted him, not wanting to hear the 'we'll probably be dead', "See you later." Hugs were given, tears were shed especially by little Gwen who received many kisses from the three. Andy was given as much of a farewell as they were, hugs and all. Not so many kisses for him though.

And then they began walking.

It took then nine days in the end to reach Cardiff. They walked from dawn to dusk, using every second of light available and they spent each night snuggled under the same blanket for warmth, not wanting to risk having a fire going all night. On the eighth day they passed the burnt out shell of a car and on closer inspection they realised it was the SUV, their SUV. They moved on quickly, not wanting to see what remained of Gwen.

Sneaking through the streets of Cardiff was the hardest bit off the journey, avoiding patrols of spheres as well as people, the slaves coming back or going to work. They were almost spotted a couple of times but they made it, arriving at the broken door to the tourist office. It was exactly as they had left it, the Hub was pretty much in pieces. The only difference to the image in there memories was the layer of dust over the place.

"I've boarded up the door to the tourist office, you need any help Tosh?" Owen asked, kneeling by the woman lying on the floor with her upper body hidden by the computer table.

"No, I'll be alright," she answered, leaning out briefly to smile at him.

"Where's Yan?" Owen asked, not seeing his lover anywhere.

"Jack's office," Tosh answered sadly. Owen sighed, rose and walked slowly up the stairs and into the office that had always been a bit of a time capsule to the team. Ianto was stood behind the desk, his hands resting on the dust covering folders strewn carelessly over its surface.

"They didn't touch in here," he mumbled quietly, a tear falling down his cheek. "Everything's the same…"

"Once we were gone this place was no longer a threat," Owen said softly, "Have you checked the vault?" Ianto shook his head, his hands moving to pick up a framed photo on Jack's desk, a photo of the team taken at Christmas. Owen moved to the vault in the wall and typed in the code, remembering it from the unfortunate incident with Abaddon. The vault clunked loudly after a year but it worked, bring up item after item which Owen checked through. "I wonder if the archives are ok too…"

"I'll go check them in a minute," Ianto said, taking a deep breath he straightened up and wiped his wet cheeks, "But first I thought I'd try and get the coffee machine going."

"Those words are music to my ears," a kiss followed.

Tosh worked steadily on the computers for three hours straight, cannibalising all the computers until she got one up and running. Ianto had found that the coffee machine hadn't actually been damaged and just needed a thorough cleaning before it would brew those delicious drinks they all remembered. Owen had been the one to check the archives in the end, finding them intact. He'd also found Janet. Hibernating. Apparently Weevils hibernated when they couldn't get food. Myfanwy however was no where to be seen, she was either dead or on the loose.

"I'm going to email the others and then I'll see what I can find out, see if there's any more news," Tosh said, sitting at her old desk. Owen and Ianto, checking the list Owen had made of the archives off against the old list nodded.

**At Hub ok, bit of a mess but was to be expected. We're getting on with things. How are you lot? I hope nothing has happened. And George, I miss you. – Tosh.**

It was a bit more sentimental than she would have liked but she knew it needed to be said. Waiting for the reply was horrible, she couldn't even concentrate on finding out the news. But then the reply came through.

**All ok here. Gwen missing you. We miss you too. Take care of yourselves. Oh and Tosh, George says he misses you too. – Brydie.**

"They've replied, everything's alright back there. Now I'll look for…oh," Tosh broke off as a window popped open on her screen. "The Master's broadcasting to the world." Ianto and Owen hurried to stand behind her as the broadcast began.

/ "My people! Salutations. On this, the eve of war…lovely woman…But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child walking the earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?" \\\

"He's insane," Tosh whispered.

"He's talking about Martha Jones," Ianto pointed out. As they'd been speaking the Master had turned the camera onto a man sat in a wheel chair. The Doctor.

/ "Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed?" \\\

"What's he going to do?" Tosh asked fearfully as the Master turned to the man, turning his back to them.

/ "What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All 900 years of your life, Doctor, what if we could see them?" \\\

"Oh My God!" Tosh gasped, looking away as the Master turned his Sonic Screwdriver on the Doctor, the Doctors scream resonating around the hub as he writhed on the screen, falling from the wheelchair. Ianto grabbed Owens hand and squeezed it painfully tight.

/ "Older and older and older…Down you go Doctor! Down, down. Down the years." \\\

The Doctor wasn't on the screen any more and the Master finally stopped his torture, looking down at something at his feet, his face clearly showing confusion.

"What's he done?" Ianto asked worriedly. No one answered him.

/ "Doctor?" \\\

"He's gone too far," Owen breathed worriedly as the Master began to look nervous. But then all of a sudden he straightened looking thoroughly confused. And then that grin was back briefly before his face filled the screen, his eyes storing hard at them, at the whole world but at one person in particular.

/ "Received and understood, Miss Jones?" \\\

The three of them said nothing as the Master turned the camera off and the screen went blank, there was nothing they could say really.

None of them slept that night, they couldn't. They ate, all sat on the couch close together and they sorted out the Hub. But no matter how hard they tried or how tired they felt they just couldn't sleep, they all had the same feeling that something was going to happen.

And happen it did. Not long after dawn Tosh's computer beeped and another window popped up. And this time, as the three gathered around it, they saw it wasn't the Master on the screen. It was Martha Jones, they recognised her from the broadcast of a year ago, being led into the Valliant's control room.

"Oh shit."


	5. Chapter 5

** Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.  **

** Warning(s): SLASH! Oh and the characters may seem a little OOC. AU now that Season Two has started as it is NOT going to link into season two.  **

** The Year That Never Was.  **

Chapter Five. 

Tosh was sat in her old chair, turning the volume up as quickly as she could as Owen got two of the other chairs for himself and Ianto. All three had a horrible feeling in their stomachs as the camera followed Martha's entrance into the room, showing the people lining the walls as well.

"There's Jack," Tosh said.

"What have they done to him?" Ianto asked, his voice shaking.

/ "You're teleport device, in case you'd thought I'd forgotten." \\\

"She's so calm, I'd be terrified if I were her," Tosh said as the younger woman on the screen calmly pulled Jack's wristwatch out of on her many pockets and threw it to the madman.

/ "And now kneel. Down below the fleet is ready to launch. 200,000 ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!" \\\

"How can someone be so…be so…" Owen couldn't finish his sentence but he didn't need to, the other two understood what he meant. How could anyone serve him so willingly and gladly? On the screen the Master checked his watch.

/ "Three minutes to align the Block Hole Converters. Counting down! I never could resist a ticking clock. My children! Are you ready?"

"We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice."

"At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex! This ones useless." \\\

"He's going to kill her," Ianto said worriedly.

/ "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward…" \\\

"Why the Hell is she laughing?" Owen asked loudly as Martha did just that, with her head bowed to a man aiming a deadly screwdriver at her.

/ "What? What's so funny?"

"A gun?"

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?"

"Yes, and I destroyed it."

"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world? I mean, come on! Did you really believe that?" \\\

"Now that's a good point," Owen said, "If you could kill a Time King or whatever he is would you scatted the weapon across the world so it took the person searching for it a year to find it?"

"It doesn't sound very sensible," Ianto agreed.

/ "What do you mean?"

"As if I would ask her to kill." \\\

The camera spun quickly to the side, showing a little…well it could almost be called a man in a bird cage, staring out at them or more specifically at the Master. Tosh and Ianto winced slightly, realising that this was what was left of that strong man they'd seen a year ago. Owen just willed the camera to go back to the main action and it did.

/ "Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."

"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here. At the right time."

"But you're still gonna die!" \\\

"Another very good point," Owen muttered.

/ "Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?"

"Tell me."

"I told a story. That's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?"

"No, 'cause I gave them an instruction." \\\

"Despite his earlier statement I don't think the Doctor can ever have had a companion better than she," Owen all but growled as Martha rose bravely to her feet.

/ "Just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word at one specific time…"

"Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon? Prayer!"

"Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment…but with 15 satellites."

"What?"

"The Archangel Network." \\\

"Jack," Ianto breathed, even though they'd already seen him hearing his voice made all their hearts pound slightly quicker.

/ "A telepathic field binging the whole human race together with all of them, every single person on Earth thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is **Doctor**." \\\

"The countdown…"Tosh pointed out as it reached 0. The people around the room on the Valiant started chanting the word Doctor, not all at the same time but it was still very like a chant.

"Doctor…" Ianto breathed, closing his eyes.

"Doctor…" Tosh joined in, her eyes closing too.

"Doctor…" Owen was the only one of the three who didn't close his eyes and therefore he saw, when the camera moved onto the Doctor once more, the little man start to glow in his cage. "Bloody He…look!" Ianto and Tosh's eyes snapped open, widening as they took in the sight on the screen. The Doctor was…changing.

/ "Stop it. No, no, no, no, you don't. Don't…" \\\

The chanting of the Doctors name grew in volume and speed and they knew, just knew that all over the world the entire human race was joining in.

/ "Stop this right now! Stop it!"

"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."

"I order you to stop!"

"The one thing you can't do is stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this." \\\

"Ok, despite being the enemy of Torchwood and all that you have to admit…he's bloody brilliant," Owen muttered. They watched in shock and awe as the Doctor, now his youthful self began to fly towards the Master.

/ "No!" \\\

The Doctor deflected the Masters shot with abilities they hadn't known he had, all this certainly wasn't listed in the file Torchwood had on him.

/ "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Then I'll kill them!" \\\

Tosh's hands moved suddenly and grabbed on of Owens and Ianto's, holding on for dear life as the Doctor somehow pulled the Masters weapon from his hand.

/ "You can't do this! You can't do…It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now."

"No! No! No! No!"

"You wouldn't listen…"

"No!" \\\

The camera swung around, following the Master as he scrambled down the steps, huddling like a scared child, clawing at the wall as he tried to get away. The Doctor was calm however, landing on his feet in front of the Master.

/ "Because you know what I'm going to say."

"No." \\\

"What do you think he'll do?" Ianto asked as the Doctor hugged the Master.

/ "I forgive you."

"My children!"

"Protect the Paradox! Protect the Paradox!" \\\

"Oh shit," Owen muttered as the camera man, probably scared out of his mind pointed the camera out of the window showing all of the spheres coming towards the Valiant. "What are they going to do?"

/ "Captain! The paradox machine!"

"You men, with me!" \\\

"Go on Jack, do your stuff," Ianto urged quietly as they watched their leader take the guards who had previously been against him and were now with him out of the room, arming himself as he went. But before he went Jack said one final thing,

/ "You stay here." \\\

He was talking to Martha and her family, worrying about them even with all the shit going on around him. And they obeyed, holding each other tightly. If Jack had ordered any of them to stay where they were they would never have obeyed him.

"Look out!" Owen cried out as they saw the Master moving before the Doctor did, pulling Jack's wristwatch from his pocket quickly.

/ "No!" \\\

Both the Doctor and the Master disappeared just as loud alarms sounded on the Valiant. All the three could do was watch from the cameraman's POV as people rushed to the consoles and the windows.

/ "We've got all six billion spheres heading right for us!" \\\

Despite how much they wanted to help there was nothing they could do, they just had to wait and hope and pray. They watched to people on the Valiant as the screamed and cried in fear, shying away from the windows as the spheres got terrifyingly close. But then…they just disappeared. Vanished into thin air.

"What's going on?" Tosh asked.

"I have no idea," Owen said worriedly. And then the whole world started to shake, worse than when the spheres attacked the first time. They held onto each other as things sparked all over the already ruined Hub and more things fell down around them. But they stayed by the computer, watching what was going on above them.

The Doctor and the Master reappeared, the Master falling immediately out of the line of the camera, the Doctor stayed in the picture for a few moments more as he caught Martha Jones as she stumbled.

/ "Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" \\\

They all obeyed dropping and then the screen turned to snow, a crackling noise filling the Hub. Tosh screamed as a girder fell close to them, dropping to her knees. Owen pushed Ianto down too, forcing the Welshman to bend over her, protecting her as he did the same, protecting both of them with his own body.

"What's going on?" Tosh screamed fearfully.

"Time is reversing like he said," Owen shouted over the noise in her ear.

"Then why are we still here?" Ianto asked. All of a sudden the shaking stopped and everything calmed around them. They rose slowly, holding each other closely. "Do you think it worked?" Tosh closed down the window that now showed only snow and brought up the computers calendar and clock.

"We've gone back one year and one day. It's 8:02 in the morning," she read off quietly. "It worked."

"The year…didn't happen?" Ianto asked, his voice shaking.

"No."

"So why…why are we still here? Why do we still remember?" Ianto asked.

"Must have been the Rift," Owen said, looking at the Rift Manipulator with a frown. It looked fine, just like it always did. But then you could never really tell when something was wrong with the Rift just by looking at it, computers were needed to know for sure. "Any readings from it?"

"I'll check," Tosh brought up the program, "Massive spike just now, almost off the scale. Looks like you were right, it was the Rift's fault we remember."

"So what's going on?" The voice startled all three of them, made them physically jump as they stared up at the door to the little kitchenette.

"Gwen…" Owen gasped.

"Hello? What's going on?" Gwens voice drifted down to them again and this time the head of their long dead friend poked out from behind the door. "What?"

"Gwen!" Tosh screamed, taking off at a run up the steps. She screamed again in joy as she hugged her friend tightly. "You're alive!"

"What? Of course I'm alive," Gwen laughed, "What is with you guys?"

"Oh it's a really long story," Owen said as he and Ianto walked up the steps too, his hand reaching out almost fearfully to touch her arm gently. "I can't…can't believe this…"

"Ooook…" Gwen said slowly. She looked from Tosh to Owen and finally to Ianto. "Oh My God your arm! What happened to your arm?" Her hands grabbed at Ianto's shoulder and upper arm, her eyes wide as she stared at his stump.

"Er…" Ianto said awkwardly.

"What happened to the Hub?"

This was going to take a lot of explaining.

Tosh had called them all over to her desk as soon as she'd caught sight of the three on the Hub's external cameras, Jack, Martha and the Doctor. Of course to Gwen it was Jack and two strangers, despite the other three having explained for an hour about what had happened in the year. She wasn't 100 sure they weren't just playing a trick on her.

"So he's decided to come back," Gwen said bitterly, thinking for a moment of Jack's sudden departure and in her eyes his betrayal. Owen turned to her, slightly annoyed if he was honest,

"Gwen we weren't lying about the year. That's why Jack left, that's where he's been so please, try not to bite his head off when he comes in."

"If he comes in," Gwen muttered. "Anyway, he left before this year you've told me about so that he still needs to explain." Owen sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes she was too headstrong for her own good.

"Look Gwen you can ask him if you want but just…don't be too hard," Owen said finally, walking away from her and over to Ianto, putting his arms around him and earning a one armed hug back. Gwen stared at them, certainly not used to their 'new' relationship. They didn't care.

"He's coming this way," Tosh announced. Ianto and Owen nodded to her, still holding each other. Tosh smiled at them fondly. She'd already begun planning (in her head) a design for a prosthetic arm, a Torchwood style one of course, not one of those boring old normal ones. To be honest she was looking forward to designing it properly and building it, with Owens help of course for the medical side of it.

The sound of the door open brought her from her mental planning. Of course the cog door and the alarms and things didn't work, they hadn't gotten around to fixing them yet. But the 'Emergency Exit' door, aka the stairs was obviously still working. And it was this door that had opened, this door that they all stared at and this was the door that Jack now walked through.

""Hey kids, d'you miss me…" Jack trailed off as he noticed the damage around the main room of the hub, "What happened?"

"Oh this and that, you know how it is when insane maniacs take over the world with the help of alien spheres and then another alien reverses time so none of it really happened only it did," Owen said loudly. Jacks jaw dropped in shock and his face paled, his eyes wide as he looked around at his teams serious faces.

"Y-You remember?"

"Yes."

"Well I don't," Gwen admitted and Jack's gaze snapped to her, "But the others have told me what went on, what happened in the missing year."

"Why don't…?"

"She was dead," Owen said, almost coldly as he remembered her death. Ianto put a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him before the Welshman walked up to stand in front of Jack, their eyes locking.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, "We saw the broadcasts, saw how you looked after a year as his prisoner…"

"I'm…" Jack thought about lying, grinning and telling them he was fine, "I'm getting there," In the end his answer was an honest one, his hands moving to rest on Ianto's shoulders reassuringly, "I'm just so sorry that you all remember, you should be able to forget like everyone el…Ianto!" Jacks hands had moved down Ianto's arms as he'd spoken but suddenly one found only air. "What happened to your arm?"

"Oh yeah," Ianto blushed and stepped back, away from Jack, "I got…hurt."

"Why? Why do you have to remember? Why haven't things changed back for you?" Jack asked in a cry. "Why weren't you allowed to forget?"

"It was the rift," Tosh said quietly, "There was a huge rift spike around the rift converter, protecting the main room of the hub when the Doctor turned back time. We were here, we wanted to be able to help you if we could but in the end…well there was nothing we could do but sit it all out." Jack nodded slowly, his eyes falling on Owens hand as the doctor among them took Ianto's hand, lacing their fingers. There was more between them than there had been before.

"I was making coffee for everyone while we watched the news about Saxon's first contact and when I came back out to this," Gwen chipped in with her side of the story. "In the space of boiling a kettle a year happened and was lost. Weird."

"The rift," Jack mumbled, looking around the room once more, his gaze finally resting on the rift manipulator fixed to the water tower, "The bloody rift…"

Jack sat in his office, not doing anything really, just sitting in his chair with his palms flat on the desk. It was almost exactly as he's left it except that some of his personal things were missing, the most noticeable to him being his favourite coffee mug. He hadn't had a coffee in a year, his mouth was watering at the very thought of it…and just like magic there was Ianto, entering his office armed with coffee. In **the** mug. A smile broke out on his face.

"Ianto I think I love you," he said, taking the cup eagerly, "My first cup of coffee in a year. Oh it's wonderful…" Taking deep gulps of the scalding liquid he smiled up at Ianto who stood still, watching him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome sir," Ianto didn't move to leave, "Jack, we need to talk."  
"What about?" Jack asked quietly, putting the mug down on his desk.

"Us."

"Oh, right."

"Before…we were sort of together," Jack nodded at Ianto's statement, trying to look the young man in the eye but Ianto refused to let him, "But then you went away and everything changed." Ianto glanced nervously out of the office and following his gaze Jack noticed Ianto was looking at Owen working away with Tosh. "I still loved you and a part of me still does…but…Owen and I…I mean…I'm making a mess of this." Ianto made a frustrated noise and turned away from his ex-lover, his hand clenching into a fist at his side.

"You're in love with Owen and you don't want me to think that we're as we were before," Jack said bluntly, little or no emotion in his voice.

"Well…yes, but I wasn't going to be quite so…harsh," Ianto said finally, turning back to Jack, "I'm sorry Jack, I really am."

"I know. I still love you Ianto, there's no switch to just turn it off but I understand. Time and events change things, change feelings and we're only human…well mostly human in my case," he gave a small, sad laugh, "I just hope Owen makes you happy."

A week passed oh so slowly inside the Hub. Repairs were being made, all of them chipping in even on things they weren't 100 sure what to do. Ianto acted liked his usual self but Owen knew better. Things were rather…awkward between Ianto and Jack even though they tried for it not to be. Now surprisingly Owen wasn't hurt or sad about the way Ianto was acting, the fact that he still loved Jack and all that. He'd known that all along but he also knew that Ianto was loyal to him, knew that Ianto loved him. And it was painstakingly obvious that Jack loved Ianto.

"Jack loves Ianto. Ianto loves Jack. I love Ianto. Ianto loves me. I love…no I don't love Jack…do I?" Owen asked himself as he sat on the autopsy table, feet swinging idly beneath him. But he realised slowly in a way he did love Jack. Not the heart pounding, soul-crushing love he felt for Ianto but love all the same. "Could that…could that be the solution?"

Yes. It could.

And so the plan began to form in his head. He had to wait for the right moment, for Ianto to take Jack his coffee like always. Just because they weren't talking to each other couldn't break his lovers strict habits. And when Ianto did he pounced on the opportunity, running up the stairs and storming into Jack's office.

"Owen!" Ianto had been on a hasty retreat out when Owen entered, nearly crashing into him. Owen slammed the door shut. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sick of the way you two are acting around each other. I'd hoped you'd work it out yourself but I'm sick of waiting! So now I'm just going to be rude and blunt and obvious," Owen said calmly, continuing to block the exit.

"So you're going back to your usual ways," Jack couldn't resist.

"Don't piss me off anymore Harkness," Owen growled. "Now I love Ianto and you love Ianto and this is what all the quietness and the awkwardness has been about. Well it stops now! Yan, be honest, who do you love?" Owen asked, turning to the other man who was staring at him in shock. He already knew what his loves answer would be though.

"I…"

"Please Yan," Owen said softly. Jack said nothing, just looked on with an emotionless mask over his features.

"I love you both."

Jack worried that Owen would be angry by Ianto's answer and rose from his seat just in case. But to the leaders surprise Owen, the hot head of the group, wasn't angry. He seemed please.

"Good. Now that we're all aware that the feelings haven't gone away or changed I can make my rather unorthodox suggestion," Jack knew what was coming before Owen said it and Jack couldn't help but grin, "Have us both."

"What?"

"Have both of us."

"You're insane!" Ianto shouted. He looked to Jack who was still grinning, "You like this ridiculous idea?"

"Well…yeah," Jack answered, "I love you. He loves you. You just said you love us both. What's the problem? Committed threesomes may only be starting out here but when I come from it's welcomed. Love isn't just the old fashioned view of a man and a woman, you should definitely know that by now. There's no rules. That's what makes love so exciting."

"But…Owen? What about you and Owen? You don't love each other. Wouldn't that make things just as awkward as they are now? What about when we're in bed together? The three of us? Or will it be me and Jack one night and then me and Owen the next night? What…?"

"Ianto! Stop being so Welsh!" Jack finally snapped, "God! You Welsh, always having to pick faults in everything. I have no problem with Owen…ok I have a few problems with Owen but who doesn't?" Owen punched him in the arm and Jack laughed, "Kidding, just kidding. Now Owen do you have a problem with me?"

"Would I have suggested this if I did?" Owen smiled, "Plus I've always wondered what was so amazing about you that made everyone want you. Now maybe I'll find out." Jack gave a short laugh and then both he and Owen looked at Ianto, "So Yan, it's up to you. Willing to at least to give it a go?"

"Fine, we can give it a go," a shy smile broke out on his face, "This is going to be fun." He giggled and the other two laughed with him.

"You bet!" Owen moved forwards swiftly and proceeded to snog the life out of Ianto. Hands were wandering shamelessly and Jack was getting rather excited just watching the two kiss in front of him…

"Jack I…" Gwen trailed off as she stuck her head round the door. "Oh…ok…I'll just…" Once again it was all the Welsh woman could do and trailed off as the scene before he got even weirder. Jack pulled Ianto away from Owen gently and kiss him equally as passionately as the other two had been kissing. "What the…"

"Don't worry Gwen," Owen said with a smile, "Can I help you?"

"N-No. I think I can manage," Gwen blinked slowly a few times.

"Ok. Well…" Owen smiled a little awkwardly and then basically shut the door in her face. Turning he barely had time look surprised before Jack was kissing him. Yep, this was definitely going to be fun.

The day began as everyday had since the year was turned back with a new set of repairs to the Hub. It was as they were all working away on their own little things that Tosh's computer gave a loud beep and then another. The young woman rushed from where she'd been re-wiring Gwen's computer to check on hers.

"Rift activity," she said quickly, "I'm getting reports of vicious beasts attacking people. Looks like weevils." A slow grin spread across Jack's face.

"Well let's go people!" he cried out almost cheerfully and they obeyed, rushing to arm themselves and pull on their coats, heading for the SUV which they had discovered parked as normal in the parking structure Torchwood used. "Ianto, stay here and keep us updated."

"Yes Jack," he replied, settling down in Tosh's chair as the rest rushed to the now open cog door and the elevator up to the real world. Standing in the cramped lift Jack's grin didn't disappear, if anything it grew as he looked around the ready faces of his team. They looked back with slightly confused grins of their own. Jack found he could only say one thing,

"Oh I've missed this!"

 

The End.

 

A/N If enough people request it I may one day write a sequel fixing the cock up that was Children of Earth...


End file.
